Varanasi: Showing remarkable courage, a jewellery shop owner and a group of traders chased and caught two looters who opened fire to scare them off after fleeing with an eight-gram gold chain worth around Rs 1.1 lakh in Manjhari Bazaar under Tehbarpur police station limits in Azamgarh district on Thursday evening. Though the looters fired at the pursuing crowd, no one was injured.The two men were caught at Bairampur village and thrashed by an angry mob before Tehbarpur police rescued them, arrested them and rushed them to hospital.Azamgarh ASP (Rural) Chirag Jain said on Friday that the two accused entered Raj Jewellers in Manjhari Bazaar on Thursday evening posing as customers. They selected an eight-gram gold chain worth around Rs 1.1 lakh and asked the shopkeeper for a QR code to make the payment. However, no money was credited to the account and the duo fled with the chain.On realising that the payment had not been made, the shopkeeper jumped out of his shop and chased the men, raising an alarm. Local traders and residents soon joined the chase.When the crowd began closing in, the looters opened fire to terrorise them, but no one was injured. The villagers continued the chase and caught both men at Bairampur village before thrashing them and handing them over to the police.Police identified the accused as Chandresh Yadav and Prince Chauhan. A stolen motorcycle, two pistols, two country-made firearms, three empty magazines, cartridges, a chopper, a screwdriver and a file were recovered from them.Police registered a case under relevant sections of the BNS and Arms Act and began questioning the accused. During interrogation, Chandresh disclosed that the motorcycle recovered from them had been stolen from the vehicle stand of the district court on August 31. He also said they had used it in previous loot, theft and snatching incidents.The two accused also disclosed the names of their accomplices, who managed to escape when the group came under pursuit by locals.
